Cave Wedding - Abi and Phillip

stirinthesauce

Thought I would share a few from a wedding I shot earlier this summer. It had to be the most unique setting I have ever shot in and presented challenges I had not considered before. The setting was to be in a private cave on a farm in TN. I did not know what the lighting would be until the day of (the B&G did not know either). The only light were 500 candles lit that barely allowed the human eye to see. Very beautiful setting and made for a memorable day. Of other interest, both are animal lovers and the bride is a DVM. So the ring bearers were their dogs which wore the rings around their necks and were called to their respective master at the appropriate time. To get to this cave, one rode in a mule drawn carriage through the woods and through pasture to a staging area and then down temporary steps built which led to the cave. I will try to show some which convey a sense of what it felt like there. Enjoy! -Jon

1. Leading down to the cave



2 The Bride arrives on her horse



3.


4


5 The ring bearers


6.


7 Introducing Mr. and Mrs.


8.


9.


10


11



and a few from the reception which was held at another farm, a very beautiful setting

12 arriving at the reception



13


14


15


16 father and daughter


17 son and mother


18


19 as the sun set


20 virtually dark now



21 off for their honeymoon

Matthew Saville

Gorgeous images, however in my opinion it is a shame and a loss if you had to use flash for 100% of the cave images. Did you not shoot anything at all with natural light? Even from a tripod? There's enough candles there that I bet you could have pulled off something with a 1.4 prime on a full-frame body.

I dunno, but in this situation I would have rented a 24 1.4 or a 35 1.4, and a full-frame body if necessary, and at least brought a tripod for a couple clicks. I would have of course used flash for many / most images too, but I think the ambiance is totally lost when using flash and I would have loved to see what the scene "truly looked like"...

=Matt=

coolpinsky

such a great location - nice pics too - good job !

stirinthesauce

Matt, I had a full frame and a fast prime as that was my goal (natural light). However much darker than it appears in the photos as the ceremony was far back in the cave. My solution was to bounce of the ceiling (did not want direct flash). Even with the flashes up all the way, I was still shooting iso3200 at slow speeds and using a monopod. Hence the unique challenges this wedding presented

Thank you both for the kind words on the images.

Matthew Saville

stirinthesauce wrote: »

Matt, I had a full frame and a fast prime as that was my goal (natural light). However much darker than it appears in the photos as the ceremony was far back in the cave. My solution was to bounce of the ceiling (did not want direct flash). Even with the flashes up all the way, I was still shooting iso3200 at slow speeds and using a monopod. Hence the unique challenges this wedding presented

Thank you both for the kind words on the images.

I would have still had a tripod to grab some 100% ambient shots, even if the people in the shot were blurry it still would have captured what the human eye was seeing.

=Matt=

huffman

Loved the sense of joy in #13.

Bill

babowc

Definitely an interesting place to have a wedding!

stirinthesauce

Thank you huffman, i agree.

Babowc, interesting location it was. I was super excited to have this opportunity and challenge.

sphynge

I agree with Matt's suggestions, that being said I have to say I loooooooooove #4.

Agnieszka

Dang, more power to you! I had a wedding in Mexico this year and the bride told me she was interested in a TTD shoot .. she said that she got a cave for a couple of hours and that they would provide lights .... sounded great to me ... cenotes are really pretty, so HEY, why not. When we got there I got the shivers (despite the ugly high temperatures that morning). There was only one light, and it was pitch black. I didn't even see where I was focusing, that's how bad it was. One part was also only lit by candles ... I almost poopsed in my pants when I saw the ... admittingly ... very romantic spot (that was set up for weddings). I promised myself right there, right then that I'd never shoot a cave wedding. I did take a few photos ... gotta say, lighting a cave is a nightmare as you can't bounce your flash (esp when the ceiling is low - which it was in my case) ... shooting my flash at the couple was also not an option as it only created nasty shadows on the "wall" behind them ... all I had left was a long exposure shot and pray the couple wouldn't move too much....

Here's what we got (told the bride to not get any big canvas prints of if, oh boy!)




This one was only lit by candles and the cave entrance quite far behind me:

joshhuntnm

wow. very nice. I'd adjust the curves on several of these to get the blacks black. This may be just an issue of taste.

stirinthesauce

Thank you Angie and I can relate to your experience. One does not understand what true darkness is without being far back in a cave. It provided a unique challenge. Luckily, I had high ceiling for bouncing. The ceremony moved fast so I shot the way I did to ensure a useable end result.

Josh, thank you for the kind words. I understand your point of the black points and it is a matter of taste (processed this way on purpose).

-Jon

dawssvt

Interesting wedding location! Great captures!

jonathanlord31

Good location it is wondering to work in like this set. Good job. Like the snaps.

stirinthesauce

Thank you dawssvt and jonathan